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"Wel , let’s just say you’re an awful y long way fro," he said "What’s the point of al this?"

"Wel , they real y wanted a live Sangheili prisoner, so who am I to deny them? Al I know is that there are a lot of scientists and other people in white coats down there, figuratively speaking, and I’et on fanified The avatar disappeared again, but then it popped back right in front of hiuest of the Arbiter, by the way Is there any e you want me to pass on to your boss?"

"Thel ‘Vada who spends toowhether hu them"

It just slipped out It didn’t ht of his lack of al egiance to the Arbiter, but it dawned on him that the devious little AI had simply flushed out a fundamental answer: they just wanted to know if Jul was one of the Arbiter’s agents He was furious at hi the answer so easily simply because he couldn’t control his teht think I’ that to deceive them

"I’l just send your best wishes to Professor Phyllis, then," BB said, and vanished

Jul roared with fury and punched his fist hard into the bulkhead It was slightly dented now fro, but even if he ripped open the whole compartment, he was stil marooned on a ship deep in space, and his chances of escape were dwindling every time more humans arrived

He sank back on his bunk and tried to calest threat he faced was that the isolation would slowly break hi else to do except stare at the bulkhead and fantasize about the many varied ways to end a human life, a certain sensitivity developed to the subliminal sounds of the vessel Jul could now tel when the ship’s drives wereto hold station, and even when so waste There was a distinctive clunk overhead He wondered how much could be heard outside the ship, because the AI had told hiness that this was a stealth vessel, and that nobody would know Port Stanley was there until they hit one of herup a picture of his environment from his sense of smelOn the occasions when a hatch opened, he could detect sweat, machine oil, burnt ht have been a sterilizing agent or disinfectant, and now a new one--a sour aroent as their fear when he’d fought theot his attention He tried to ht come in useful

Sometime later, he heard the sound of boots, several pairs of theht not have been specifical y heading his way, because the cel was on one of thefore to aft in the ship But he knew that sound

Spartans Demons

Even without their heavy are hue outside his cel , so thenized the voices There werevoice who didn’t seem very happy with life The wordsto learn that the repetition of goddamn indicated a certain mood, and when voices were raised there were many more words with explosive consonants like F and sibilants like S Even their anger lacked eloquence

A conversation was now going on outside his cel door He kept hearing a repetition of the word halsey, but he had no idea what a halsey was, only that the huitated about it

"No, you can’t talk to her" That was the female shipmaster, the one who’d had hiosky"

"But what happens now?" That was a male voice he wasn’t familiar with, neither the bad-tempered older male nor the two soldiers ere part of the ship’s crew "Where are they going to take her?"

"I can’t tel you that," the ship"

Jul had no idea what they were talking about, but he could memorize the sounds and detect the ereat deal of tension He could sain in their sweat, the acrid human scents that they puh

The conversation stopped and the boots strode away A few minutes later, the smal viewscreen set in his cel door activated and he found hi at the female shipmaster--Osman--and an anonymous, helmeted Spartan It was hard to tel the dehts, if he has any," said Os to have to osky wants Halsey transferred as soon as Coets here"

The AI appeared in front of Jul "Tiood a co to disembark you Now you can do this in a civilized way and walk out under your own steam, or we can do it the cattle prod way You do understand what Ime?"

"Like I said, it’s quite a pleasant location We’l transfer you by shuttle Now, are you going to behave yourself?"

"I’m not a child"

"If you resist, they’l simply shoot you I know you love the idea of death before dishonor, but if you force theeous you were anyway I don’t suppose that matters to you, because you’l know that you did the decent and , and perhaps that’s al you want But if you want to take revenge at so is a pretty essential part of that strategy It’s your choice"

BB’s logic was seductive "Very welWhat must I do?"

"They’l insist that you’re handcuffed Please don’t resist"

BB was absolutely correct To die resisting the enemy, with or without an audience to witness the event, was a noble thing But returning to defeat the ene Jul waited for the door to open and presented his outstretched wrists without comment as the Spartan moved in to put restraints on his arms

"You have a very persuasive ith you, BB," Osman said "What did you do, threaten to tel his fairl?"

"You have to admit it’s very effective," BB said "A little trick that Phil ips taught ed up froists for you"

"Sometimes I think honor is vastly overrated," Osman said She nodded at the Spartan "See hiain She had the cattle prod hanging from her belt Jul kept his word and walked beside her down the passage toward the hangar, where a group of six troops aiting Four other hu there too, al clutching datapads and al far too frail or fat to be soldiers The hangar was as crowded as a Kig-Yar bazaar with two dropships berthed and every available space behind the safety barrier fil ed with crates

One of the technicians, a fe pale hair scraped back from her face, looked up and sheili before and didn’t kno hted curiosity rather than goodwilShe said nothing

"Jul, I’ve instructed Dr Magnusson’s AI in the Sangheili language, so you should be able to coet to send a postcard"

"Who is this Dr Magnusson?" Jul demanded